Olympics: Big, beautiful and a bit bland - Beijing Olympics

B is for Beijing, B is for Big, B is for Beautiful, B is for Bland.

Never again will there be an Olympics like the one Beijing put on, no other government could pour the resources into running them the way China did.

Nothing was too much trouble for totalitarian state. Need land for venues? Flatten houses, ship out the residents. Need workers? They're everywhere, no problem.

New roads, a new airport, brand new venues for even the minor sports, China was determined to put on its best face for the Games, to seal its place as a world leader.

Its stadia were beautiful, from the glorious eye-boggling Bird's Nest down, and the Chinese people were right behind the Games.

Thousands of volunteers cheerfully helped, while others confined themselves to being immensely proud, or being spectators.

Beijing beat Athens and Sydney for organisation too, with buses and trains going where they were meant to go and when they were meant to go.

So, give it a jaw-dropping opening ceremony with a gold medal fireworks display, stir brilliant athletes from across the world, and you've got the greatest Games ever, right?

Well, not quite, Beijing missed the X-factor needed for a perfect Games.

Sydney had it, in the shape of sports-mad spectators who would lift the roof off when they saw something special.

Crowds in China were either too polite, not liquored up, or lacked the sports savvy to light up the Bird's Nest or the Water Cube, where the centre stage events were held.

It was different at the table tennis or badminton, where China had a long tradition and a deep understanding. There, you heard some noise.

Athens too had X-factor, in the form of its historic significance; it was the home of the Olympic Games, gave olive wreaths to the medallists, and held the women's shot put at Olympia.

Beijing lacked that tradition.

When Usain Bolt grandstanded his way to the 100m world record, showboating his way to the finish in the most dramatic single moment of the Games, the crowd knew something special had happened, but seemed unsure just how special.

If Bolt had done that in Sydney, the Olympic Stadium would have lifted off, and there would have been a buzz running through the pubs for days.

While the Chinese had been briefed on Olympic sports -- there were screens on the subway explaining the finer points of sports such as hockey, rowing and dressage -- the crowds were not that knowledgeable, ebbing some of the atmosphere away.

Not one protest was approved to be held during the Games, and the opening ceremony was heavy on military presence, but otherwise Beijing was above criticism.

Dire predictions of distance runners choking in thick smog came to nothing, as the smog magically wafted away, with event-cancelling torrential downpours more common than carbon monoxide.

Blissfully, Chinese authorities used vast numbers of military to create an Olympic zone where only one security search was required, so searches did not need to be done at every venue.

New Zealand chef de mission Dave Currie was in no mood to find fault.

"Beijing, China, have done an extraordinary job, there is nothing that we could say where we think they could do things any better," he told reporters.

"Venues have worked well, transport has worked well, volunteers have been overwhelmingly supportive, we're just delighted."

International Olympic Committee boss Jacques Rogge today said Beijing had presented a challenge for London 2012 and for all subsequent Games. It would not try to replicate Beijing, but present its own Olympic vision.

"London will be the city of the country that has invented modern sports, the country that has invented the rules of sport and brought in the values of fair play. That is the identity that has to be used in London," he said.

"London is also a very cosmopolitan city, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious. This is also an asset. The rest, I have absolutely no concern, the venues will be first-class."

Owright then, over to you guv.